


No Beds For Naughty Boys

by Sashataakheru



Series: Taskmaster Advent Calendar 2018 [17]
Category: Taskmaster (UK TV) RPF
Genre: Blankets, Cuffs, D/s, Daddy/boi, Disobedience, Gen, Master/Servant, Ownership, Punishment, Restraints, Sleeping on the Floor, Taskmaster Advent Calendar 2018, advent calendar fic, tied up, weird AU thing idk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-22 04:17:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17052962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sashataakheru/pseuds/Sashataakheru
Summary: Taskmaster Advent Calendar Dec 18: FireplaceJames should know better than to try to argue with his master, even if he knows he's right.





	No Beds For Naughty Boys

**Author's Note:**

> We’ll just pretend Greg lives in a ridiculous Lordly mansion like the Lord that He is, just so I can write today’s fic.

It was the hollowest of hollow victories. Sure, James was now bound and immobile, and had to sleep in front of the fireplace at night for a week, but at least he’d won the argument. It was little compensation, given how cold the air was getting, and it wasn’t even a proper fireplace, so there were no embers to slowly keep him warm while he slept. He was sure Greg had turned the heating down in here, but he wasn’t dumb enough to turn it up. He might be a brat, but he was in enough trouble without adding that to the mix, because he was sure that would just ensure he slept down here for a month instead of a week, and a week would be hard enough as it is.  
  
He wished his body wasn’t quite so bony and thin. The floor was hard, and he had no fat to keep him warm. And because he was being punished, the blanket he’d been given to sleep under was not quite warm enough. It would get him through the night without freezing, because Greg wasn’t a bastard, but it wasn’t a warm, thick duvet, that’s for sure. He just had to stay down here until Greg came to release him in the morning. It was going to be a long night.  
  


* * *

  
It’s fair to say James had not slept well. He’d curled up into himself, but the cuffs binding his wrists and ankles made that less comfortable than he was used to, and he had no pillow for his head, so he’d rested his head on the front of the fireplace on a corner of the rug, which was not an easy thing to do, given his limited movement. It had, at least, given him a little support for his neck.  
  
He heard Alex get up well before dawn as he usually did. Alex didn’t make a lot of noise, he was too good at his job for that, but James always knew when he was up and getting on with his duties before their master woke up. Normally, he ignored it, because he didn’t need to be up as early as Alex and normally slept through it, but now it just meant at least a few more hours before he was freed, because his master never woke before 9am unless he really, really had to.  
  
Alex stuck his head in to check on him, just as the sun was beginning to creep through the sides of the curtains.  
  
“Sleep well, James?” Alex asked with all the smug innocence of the servant who had _not_ been punished the night before.  
  
James glared at him, and he might have growled and bared his teeth just to spite him, but it was all hollow, because he couldn’t move, and all the fight had been taken out of him now. He was cold and stiff and sore and hungry, but Alex had no sympathy for him. James could tell by the half-stale chunk of bread he left for him, which James ate with some difficulty.  
  
“Don’t worry, I’ll be waking him soon,” Alex said sweetly, and left him alone.  
  
James might have said something, but he was aware his master would just paddle him if he yelled at Alex and woke him up before he was ready. Reluctantly, James bit his tongue and curled up, trying to at least doze off the next few hours.  
  


* * *

  
“Come on, James, wake up, our Lord has awoken,” Alex said, shaking him awake.  
  
James was surprised that he had indeed fallen asleep, but he was now being woken before he was ready, and he was groggy and tired and in no mood to be civil. He nearly spat an insult back at Alex, but he caught sight of Greg behind him and wisely shut up.  
  
“Did you sleep well, you little shit?” Greg said as he approached him.  
  
“Of course not, sir, I was sleeping on the hard, cold ground,” James said bitterly.  
  
Greg knelt in front of him and lifted his chin up. James shied away at his angry face, but didn’t dare look away from him as his master released him from his cuffs. He’d pushed his luck as far as it would go. Better not make this punishment any worse.  
  
Greg lifted him to his feet and took the blanket from him. “Kitchen duties. All day. Go.”  
  
“Yes, my Lord,” James said, and scurried off as soon as Greg released him. At least it wasn’t laundry duty. That was all that consoled him as he submitted to the hard work ahead of him. 


End file.
